there were political miscalculations during katrina and there were actual -- how would i describe it? there were actual leadership problems during katrina. remember, a president can't evacuate a city. only a governor or a mayor can do that. i think the failure of mayor to evacuate the city -- he admitted this. the failure to do it earlier is what caused the big problems and politically -- i'm give you an example of a political mistake bush made that everybody will recognize. remember the iconic photograph of the president looking down on new orleans from air force i? >> cenk: yep. >> here mistake. would have been acceptable to everybody if he simply the planeton a huge political mistake. for me, it was a political mistake because i needed him to send a signal to the cabinet that said whatever brown needs in katrina you give it to him. huge political mistake. >> cenk: were the other cabinet members not cooperative? was that a problem when you were dealing with katrina? >> we found out later, there were huge arguments go

hurricane sandy that is hitting us now. better be prepared as we learned from hurricane katrina. not if you listen to the ryan-romney budget. we give them every benefit of the doubt on discretionary spending for the government. they don't specify, of course, because they're cowards. they don't say i'm going to cut this program this program this program. let's assume they do not cut fema any more than they would cut any other program. what would the fema budget under the ryan plan? well, it would be about $3.9 billion. let me did oh some quick math for you guys. that is $10 billion less from $13.5 billion to $4 billion. well, ryan is an extremist. that's not fair to look at his. let's look at romney's budget proposals stretching through 2015. what would he cut it down to? less $1.8 billion. it's even worse than ryan's budget. so if you are interested in getting a proper response through fema to these storms apparently you're not going to get one if ryan and romney get their wishes and desires and cut the hell out of our budget. this is a good time to be doing that. is that a smart move? and

was not sufficient with all the traumas from katrina and manmade traumas, we have not thought about what we need to do to protect ourselves from these natural and unnatural attacks. hopefully this is what this wake-up call will do for us. >> well certainly they won't be leaving major equipment in basements. major mris were down underwater. they were pumping it out and it's all saltwater, which is very destructive. it will be millions of dollars. >> eliot: and saltwater is enormously destructive. that's part of what caused the con ed transformers to blow up. i'm worried about what it will take to rebuild this infrastructure. that makes the case. cost will be vast. >> you can see the gridlock that we're experiencing. if you try to move through manhattan it takes you hours. it shows how dependent we really are on the subway system. we have to get it up and running. our hospitals functioning again. it's a huge challenge. i've never seen the federal state and city government work more more hormonously. and the president just said, i'm telling everyone to get back to them in 15 minutes. i can get ever

by people who believe in its purpose and mission and it evoked the images of katrina which is the worst metaphor for mitt romney. and i think the president has surfed the wrong of this, and it's on the emotions of the public. >> yes, i don't think obama was trying to use it politically. i think he was trying to do thinks job. i think chris christie was trying to do his job. i also think that chris christie understands that he faces re-election in a pretty democratic state, and obama understands that he faces re-election next week. those are political realities. they're politicians, and they don't deny that. but they were doing their jobs, and i think christie's role here, as i'm sure you know as a former governor, it was a big deal for christie to come out and do what he did. that also really hurt romney. >> eliot: yes, that was the political maneuver of the week. he played it perfectly. switch gears for a moment. i don't want to say that anything is over and done, but the president is comfortable. the united states senate, a pivot or blocking position for the past couple of years. any

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